At the age of 103, the oldest Olympic gold medallist and a Holocaust survivor, Agnes Keleti, passed away on Thursday (January 2).
According to the Hungarian Olympic Committee (HOC), the former athlete died at Budapest Military Hospital while receiving treatment for respiratory issues and heart failure. She would have turned 104 on January 9.
Keleti’s athletic journey
A gymnast from Hungary, five-time Olympic champion Keleti became the oldest female gymnast to win gold at the age of 31 when she earned her first gold at the 1952 Games in Helsinki. She then went on to win four more golds in the 1956 Games in Melbourne.
The athlete won 10 medals, including five golds, making her the second most successful Hungarian athlete worldwide.
Keleti was born in Budapest in 1921 and won her first Hungarian title in 1940. However, due to her Jewish heritage, she was prohibited from participating in any sports later that year.
By hiding in a town south of Budapest with fictitious documents, Keleti managed to avoid deportation to Nazi death camps, according to the HOC. Keleti moved to Israel a year after the Melbourne Games, where she coached gymnasts, got married, and had two kids.
Source: BBC